Sinister Tide

Tweed & Co. #17

by Colin Forbes

The wave of the future confronts Tweed - carrying death for at least a hundred million people. With Paula Grey and Bob Newman, Tweed tracks the creator of the supreme weapon, Dr Goslar. Identity unknown - man or woman? The trail leads from the coast north of Dartmoor to London. Two mysterious women appear - Serena Cavendish, then Trudy Warner, just arrived from the US. Can Tweed trust either? Captain Alan Burgoyne, Gulf War veteran, joins Tweed`s team. The Yellow Man surfaces - the most savage assassin Tweed has ever encountered. The pursuit of Goslar moves to Paris. Tweed has many enemies - the French security services, a `non-existent` American unit, the rival British Special Brand - all determined to seize the weapon. From Paris, Tweed, always under threat, races to Geneva, on to Annecy. Goslar`s base is still unknown. He is close to delivering the weapon to the West`s mose fanatical opponent. Is Tweed too late? A crescendo climax explodes in remote snowbound mountains. For pace, for intriguing characters, Forbes has created his most atmospheric novel yet.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Espionage, Crime, Mystery, Action

422 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Raymond Harold Sawkins was a British novelist, who mainly published under the pseudonym Colin Forbes, but also as Richard Raine, Jay Bernard and Harold English. He only published three of his first books under his own name.Sawkins wrote over 40 books, mostly as Colin Forbes. He was most famous for his long-running series of thriller novels in which the principal character is Tweed, Deputy Director of the Secret Intelligence Service.

Sawkins attended The Lower School of John Lyon in Harrow, London. At the age of 16 he started work as a sub-editor with a magazine and book publishing company. He served with the British Army in North Africa and the Middle East during World War II. Before his demobilization he was attached to the Army Newspaper Unit in Rome. On his return to civilian life he joined a publishing and printing company, commuting to London for 20 years, until he became successful enough to be a full-time novelist.

Sawkins was married to a Scots-Canadian, Jane Robertson (born 31 March 1925, died 1993). Together they had one daughter, Janet.Sawkins died of a heart attack on August 23, 2006.

Sawkins was often quoted as personally visiting every location he features in his books to aid the authenticity of the writing. As a result, there is detailed description of the places where the action in his books takes place.

Fury (1995) was inspired by the courage of his wife before she died, and he set it apart from his other novels “because of the strong emotion and sense of loss that runs through it”.

Just one of Forbes' novels was made into a film: Avalanche Express, directed by Mark Robson and starring Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw, which was released in 1979 to generally poor reviews.

Reviews

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sinister tide, sinister book, probably the paper is the most valuable thing around here.
And it is wasted...

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hokey writing and more characters than you can care about or hope to keep straight. Good plot, poorly executed.

[Shrook · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some low quality plot expanded James bond story.

[Nigel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another enjoyable story in Forbes’ Tweed and Co series. I appreciate that there are readers who disparage this series of novels owing to unrealistic nature of the plots and somewhat formulaic approach. For me however these concerns do detract from the fun I have in reading the stories. I am not reading these to experience highbrow literature but to provide enjoyment on commuting train journeys. The formulaic feel to the stories means that one always knows what you are going to get and as for the plots, to me they are no more outlandish than those of James Bond or Mission Impossible and provide a good old fashioned adventurous romp.

[Shameem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colin Forbes has been mystery/thriller writer of choice for over 20 years. Tweed & Co. are such a brilliantly written investigative team, and I feel as if I know each character personally. I normally am quite attached to them functioning as a unit and don’t like as much when Forbes brings other people into the fold, but that wasn’t the case with Sinister Tide. Tweed & Co. does bring a few new additions on for the ride this time, and the dynamic of building trust with relative strangers supporting the team is written very believably.

[Di · Rating 2 out of 5]

ordinary writing and mystery had some holes

[Ian Coates · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tweed and his team take on criminal mastermind Doctor Goslar. At stake is a chemical weapon Goslar developed that could wipe out millions, which is on offer to the highest bidder. No country is prepared to match the exorbitant price offered by a militant Arab state, so intelligence agencies from around the world assign agents to use whatever methods are necessary to find Goslar and obtain the weapon. Their instructions are to eliminate anyone—friend or foe—that gets in their way. Tweed finds himself battling American, French and British agents as well as the master criminal and the army of Arab fanatics he has enrolled to protect him, while also avoiding the assassin Goslar has hired—the mysterious Yellow Man with his trademark beheadings.

During a manic chase across Europe, Tweed and his team avoid bombs, snipers and machine gun wielding Arabs before finally locating Goslar’s snow-laden hideout in the Swiss mountains.

Although the writing is somewhat clunky in places, especially where the series characters are first introduced, Forbes is forgiven because of the sheer pace and page-turning interest he achieved. Leave your reality-checking measure behind and enjoy this fast-paced story: well worth a read.

[The Honest Book Reviewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Colin Forbes novel completed from the shelf. This is the earliest of the bunch I'd grabbed at a book fair a while back. I can see some differences between this and the later novels. For one, the plot seems a little tighter and a bit more coherent.

Once again I am sucked in by the quaintness of it all - from the dialogue of the characters, the politeness, and then down to the fact that they all seem to be able to walk around with grenades in their bags. I'm not sure if it is intended this way - but I see these novels as some sort of farce of real spycraft. Everything feels so James Bondish, but to a higher level. The sinister treasure hunt that Tweed & Co are caught up in is entertaining and, at times, unbelievable. The villain is so over-the-top this time, I was reminded of the Inspector Gadget villain sitting in his chair, sharing with us an evil chortle.

Still, I think I'm understanding more of what this series is all about and what to expect, and I will still imagine this taking place in the 50s. I can't help it. The characters, the behaviours, the dialogue - everything to me shouts 50s and not modern times. If you want a spy novel that's an effortless and fun read, give this a go.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overrall not a bad read, but the ending was anticlimax.

[Ian Higgs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good story again, and great to see many Swiss towns which I know well appearing. Paula again gets herself into trouble.....and yet the men do not.

[Alina Naz · Rating 2 out of 5]

An okay-plot with a long, tiring chase and the climax in the end. The few things I did like were the last few chapters and a bit of the chase (not all of it).
The fact that everyone was so overprotective of Paula made little sense of her inclusion in Tweed's team in SIS. The overall story was dry with too many characters; at one point I forgot who belonged to where and what they were referencing to. Also the author tries way too hard to make everything clear hence it lost its charm somewhere in that. In addition to this, every event turned out so conveniently in Tweed's favour that it seemed unlikely, especially when the underground parking exploded by gun fire and all the lower bodies of the people inside were smoldered but their upper half of the bodies and passports were conveniently undamaged.

[Mazzy Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Scattered between extraneous repetition and early snail-paced progress, a reasonable plot eventually emerged. Lesson learned: A cover that offers critical acclaim for an author may not reflect the book's contents or quality. To be fair, I did actually finish the book, but I'm unlikely to seek out other titles by Colin Forbes. Best thing about this book: the dollar I spent purchasing it supported a charity. Second best thing about this book: I learned more about what a contemporary author should not do.

[Nisarg · Rating 1 out of 5]

The novel drags on unnecessarily taking you from place to place.. and with no thrill at all. The moments of action are so rare and sparse and they come and go before you realise it. The writing is pretty predictive and repetitive... felt like the longest book ever ( its 422 pages long for what could have been over in 250) .... my word... don't read it you wont miss anything

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used to read Colin Forbes when I was a teenager. I bought this one in a used book store recently because it was the only thing I could find to read. It's reasonably enjoyable but it's just not the type of book I read anymore.

[Anupama · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read from Colin Forbes.Tweed,deputy director of SIS and his team - Newman, Paula Grey, Marler, Nield and Butler enthralled us throughout the book.Unexpected and thrilling climax steps-up reader's delight...

[Sriram kv · Rating 3 out of 5]

a good mystery....

[Gillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

didn't much care for the writing style, very 30's stilted, but storyline ok

[Biddy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Guessed who the villain was as soon as he was introduced! The storyline and writing was rather old fashioned. It reminded me of the Famous Five books I read as a child!

[Carole · Rating 3 out of 5]

good read

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Spybook

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not one of Forbes' better novels, far too many coincidences, and a rather rushed finale. I also feel it is about time one of Tweed's team was 'killed off' to freshen thing up a bit.